


Run To The Devil You Know

by orphan_account



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alice Cooper is just slaying life, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Death, F/F, I Don't Even Know, Open Ending, Out of Character, Zombie Apocalypse, but not really, lots of death, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-22 16:07:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13767687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	Run To The Devil You Know

"Betty, Betty it's me!" Jughead yells at his now zombie girlfriend. "BETTY!" He yells at her. "Come Jughead, let's go!" Toni yells pulling him away from the blonde. "Betty, please, look at me. It's me, it's Jughead!" Jughead yells ignoring Toni. It's hopeless anyway, there's nowhere to go. They're surrounded by zombies, Zombie Jason (who started this whole fucking mess, couldn't Cheryl let her stupid dead brother stay dead?), Zombie Moose, Zombie Mayor McCoy and Zombie Kevin.

Suddenly, a cherry red 1961 Chevrolet Impala runs over Zombie Kevin without a care in the world. "Get in, losers!" Cheryl yells. Without hesitation, Toni drags Jughead over and both of them jump in. Not even a second later, Cheryl runs over Zombie Betty making Jughead yell and swerves back onto the road.

"Did you really have to do that?" Jughead asks moodily. "Relax, she's dead already." Cheryl replies insensitively. "So's your brother but didn't stop you from bringing him back to life and turning this place into the Walking Dead!" Yells back Jughead. Toni shoots him a glare. Seriously, there's still zombies about and Toni's not too sure Cheryl wouldn't push the both of them out if they pissed her off enough. "Geez, maybe thank me for saving your life first." Snaps Cheryl rolling her eyes.

Seeing that Cheryl doesn't seem bothered by the comment, Toni relaxes in the back. This posh-ass North Side car really is comfortable. _Although, things like the North Side and South Side don't seem to matter in this Zombie Infested town, do they?_ Toni muses happily to herself.

Maybe there are some good parts to this Zombie Apocalypse.

 

 

Cheryl parks outside Riverdale High. Both Jughead and Toni follow Cheryl inside, past the fence made out of scrap metal and scrap wood too high for zombies to get past, over to where a two familiar kids are waiting. "Cheryl, you're back." Veronica grins, hugging Cheryl like they're not fighting half the time. Then again, this is the Zombie Apocalypse so they've probably put the fighting on hold. "Hey man." Archie smiles cheerfully at Jughead. Josie drops her guitar and runs over to hug Cheryl.

Meanwhile Jughead smiles flatly back at Archie. "You saw Betty." Veronica guesses with a frown. "You guys saw her too?" Toni asks. "Yeah, we've pretty much seen all the zombies. But there's still no word about whether or not Polly's a zombie. We're thinking maybe if she isn't we can find her and help raise the babies here." Josie replies.

"Did any of you see her?" Adds Veronica glancing between the two of them. "No, we didn't. But if she was staying with Kevin and Betty and they're both zombies there's not much hope." Jughead replies sombrely. "Can you stop being so moody? We need strong survivors here not bland, moody white guys." Cheryl retorts rolling her eyes at Jughead. "He just saw his girlfriend zombie-fied give him a break." Veronica snaps back.

 _No, they're still fighting_  Toni thinks rolling her eyes. "Come on, we'll show you around." Archie says as Veronica and Cheryl start fighting more intensely. Apparently not even the fucking world ending could stop those girls arguing over something petty.

 

 

Toni ends up in the Music Room on the same mattress as Cheryl. Because of course, the Zombie Apocalypse wasn't bad enough. Jughead is sharing a mattress with Archie in the cafeteria. He basically gets a to hang with his best friend and a free supply of left-over food to distract him at night. Toni's only got a load of instruments she can't play and her worst fucking enemy to distract her at night.

So, yeah, Karma's a bitch.

But then again, Jughead also got a Zombie Girlfriend. So maybe Toni will let him have the bed with Archie for now. For now though. Once Jughead gets over the whole Betty-is-a-Zombie thing, Toni's so taking his spot next to Archie. Okay, maybe these kind of thoughts are why the universe hates Toni...

 

 

For the Zombie Apocalypse, it's pretty organised. Alice Cooper prints off a schedule for everyone to follow, adding Jughead and Toni different tasks (much to the joy of their new-found leader). Then again, Alice Cooper is fucking thriving in the Zombie Apocalypse. Despite having one Zombie Daughter and another Possibly Zombie Daughter, Alice Cooper loves being in charge of a bunch of people who would probably die without her.

Everyone is assigned guns and knives, kept under Alice Cooper's care of course. Obviously, people like FP Jones and Cheryl Blossom 'coincidently' have the most gruelling tasks whilst kids like Ethel Muggs have tasks like 'Tasting the Food' (yeah that's seriously a real thing).

Toni looks over hers, whilst eating Pop Tate's delicious food.

 **Monday: 9AM-12PM **(NOON in case South Side High is as incompetent at teaching as I suspect)**** **Training in the Gym [Serpent group], 1PM-4PM Schooling with Principal Weatherbee in the Biology Classroom**

**Tuesday: 2AM-7PM Zombie Patrol with Cheryl Blossom**

**Wednesday: 8AM-1PM Schooling with Principal Weatherbee in the Biology Classroom**

**Thursday: 3AM-8PM Zombie Patrol with Cheryl Blossom**

**Friday: 12AM-5AM Night Shift, 11AM-4PM Schooling with Principal Weatherbee in the Biology Classroom**

**Saturday: 12AM-5AM Night Shift**

**Sunday: 5AM-6PM Look Out**

**I'm assuming South Side High isn't a good school so you probably have questions about this dumbed-down schedule. I'm in the Principal's Office working busily on maintaining order and basically doing more to help than you ever could. So if you have any questions (and you obviously will as a Serpent) ask some stupid, manipulative boy or one of those Blossom's or Lodge's or whoever else is here. Also, don't disturb me UNLESS you by some miracle are smarter than I give you credit for and find Polly.**

"Is there any way we can just not follow this schedule?" Toni asks glaring at her schedule. "Well, Moose didn't and he's a zombie now so... I would just do it." Archie replies. Jughead is too busy scoffing his burger to groan, but looking at his schedule Toni knows he would've.

Toni already knows Tuesday and Thursday will be by far her least favourite days here. Alice Cooper may be a badass, but she's also a huge bitch.

 

 

It's Thursday, the day Toni's been dreading. Whilst both Cheryl and Toni had mostly stayed away from each other even though they shared a mattress, Toni realised she'd at least have to acknowledge Cheryl's presence during this 'Zombie Patrol' thing. Luckily, Pop Tate was nice enough to give them both full flasks of coffee to survive the night. They also had 3 guns, 4 shotguns, 12 knives and 7 spears to help them against the zombies.

"Thanks for saving me and Jug." Toni says awkwardly. Unfortunately, since the whole world is a Zombie Apocalypse, there radio has been scratched off by a zombie. Weirdly, Toni feels this protective instinct to hug Cheryl for having to survive that probably traumatic event.

Cheryl looks over. However, she's wearing red sunglasses so Toni can't tell what her expression is. "We need to keep numbers high. The more people, the higher chance I survive. It was purely selfish really." Cheryl dismisses. "I didn't expect any less." Grins Toni watching as the moon illuminates Cheryl. It makes Cheryl look like a warrior goddess, beautiful yet still a prominent scar on her cheek to show her strength.

There's a snort from Cheryl, but Toni sees the corner of her red lips turn upwards.

"No one knows, but I was there when Betty was turned into a zombie. I was on patrol when I saw her, she was screaming and waving her arms. Betty managed to get in and we drove towards the school. Then Jay-Jay ran in front of the car. I couldn't run him over, Toni, I couldn't run my own brother over. So... So Betty's yelling at me but I just fr-froze up. Zombie Kevin dragged her out the car but Betty managed to get away. Jay-Jay moved out the way and I just d-drove off like a coward. I left her there to die. She was screaming my name when Jay-Jay finally bit her." Cheryl says in a quick, stuttering mess.

Cheryl's expression was icy despite the words coming out of her mouth. But Toni could see a lone tear rolling down Cheryl's pale face and the way her hands gripped the wheel. "You didn't mean to, you didn't mean to, Cheryl." Toni comforts, resting a hand on Cheryl's thigh before she can think.

"So what? Intentions are meaningless, Toni! I still left her to die, I could've driven back, I could've ran Jason over." Cheryl yells back angrily. "You didn't hurt Zombie Betty too bad when you ran her over, we can still find a cure for all this. We can still save Betty, Cheryl. Heck, we can probably save Jason too." Replies Toni, rubbing at Cheryl thigh comfortingly. Cheryl nods once, plunging both of them into silence again.

Neither girl really knows why Cheryl confessed out of nowhere. Regardless, Toni can't help but feel strangely glad that Cheryl would trust her with such a confession.

"You won't tell anyone will you?" Cheryl asks anxiously after a moment. "No, I won't tell anyone, Cheryl." Says Toni honestly. Cheryl looks over, checking over Toni's expression. Cheryl seems to find what she's looking for in Toni's expression because she turns back to the desolate road. The rest of the car ride is silent.

But both girls understand each other far more than they did before they entered the car.

 

 

Cheryl joins Toni on her night shift without explanation. Both girls sit outside Riverdale High, a shotgun each watching the fire burn in front of them. "How's Jughead?" Cheryl asks calmly. "Good. He's better, focusing his energy on finding a cure to save Betty. You know how he gets with mysteries." Replies Toni, keeping her gaze focused on the burning embers. "You think he could save Jay-Jay too?" Asks Cheryl, tightening her hold on her gun.

"I don't know." Toni mutters honestly.

There's another minute or so of silence. Toni looks over at Cheryl's stony expression. She looks like she's ready to jump up and fight at any moment. Maybe that's what made Cheryl Blossom so useful in the Zombie Apocalypse, she was always waiting for something to happen. Always waiting for yet another tragic even to fight off.

Toni reaches over and takes Cheryl's hand. "What are you doing?" Cheryl asked softly, finally looking at Toni. "Living." Replies Toni with a slight grin.

"You're ridiculously cliché." Cheryl snorts. "You love me really." Teases Toni, wriggling her eyebrows jokingly. "Maybe I do." Retorts Cheryl coyly, looking at Toni through her eyelashes. In this light, Cheryl looked gorgeous, like she was a normal teenage girl without a care in the world. All Toni wants to do is lean over and kiss those Maple Red lips. So she does.

But suddenly, Cheryl's pulling away and springing into action. The Zombie makes a groaning sound as Cheryl shoots it in the head. "Jay-Jay!" Cheryl yells. "No!" Another voice yells. "Polly!" Toni screams.

She pulls the blonde past the fence, leaving Cheryl still sobbing over her Zombie brother. Polly's heavily pregnant still sobbing from seeing Cheryl shoot Jason in the head. Toni's emotions are all over the place. There's no time to comfort her, no time to get Cheryl. Instead, Toni simply grabs Polly's hand and starts yelling for everyone to wake up. "Polly's here! She's alive, she's alive! We found her!" Toni yells.

Alice Cooper rushes out first, heading straight for Polly. She hugs her eldest daughter sobbing. "You're really here, you made it!" Mrs. Cooper sobs. She doesn't seem to care about the whole 'Tough Leader' act now.

"Is everyone here?" Hiram asks, taking control of the situation. "Cheryl, Cheryl's outside." Gasps Toni.

By the time Toni, Hiram, Veronica and Archie rush outside Cheryl is gone. Her cherry red 1961 Chevrolet is still there and so is Zombie Jason with a bullet through his head. "No. She... She can't be a Zombie too." Veronica whispers, raising a hand to her mouth. "Cheryl's strong. We don't know if she's a zombie yet." Archie replies putting a hand on Veronica's shoulder.

"No kid can survive being taken by zombies. Not even a strong kid like Cheryl." FP replies from the doorway, flicking his cigarette. "We don't know she was taken. Cheryl's unpredictable, she could've gone for a stroll. I'm sure she'll be back by sunrise." Hiram replies dismissively. Keeping up moral like the leader he was.

 

 

That sunrise, Cheryl did not return. She didn't return at noon or sunset either. Cheryl didn't even return on Saturday or Sunday or any day after that.

 

 

"Why didn't you take me too? You had enough time, there's always time, Toni." Cheryl tells her in a dream. "I didn't mean to, Cheryl." Toni replies looking down at the ground. Looking at the ground is a mistake. Zombie Jason is on the ground, blood gushing from his head. One wound from a father, another from a twin. "So what? Intentions are meaningless, Toni!" Yells Cheryl.

Toni swallows, stepping over Zombie Jason's body and towards Cheryl. "I'm sorry." She croaks. "You should be." Snaps Cheryl, her brown eyes dark as her icy expression.

That night, Toni wakes up (sweating and panting) to an empty mattress. Cheryl's clothes are still on the floor, her perfume still in the air. Cheryl Blossom is a ghost that lingers in the air, impossible to get rid of.

 

 

Whilst Alice Cooper is preoccupied with all things Polly and twins, Hiram Lodge steals her leadership from right under Alice's nose. Everyone's bee expecting it. Hiram had started slowly leading more and more, bossing people around more and more. Hiram like the true business man he was, keeps up appearance acting like the messiah they've all been looking for. Toni sees right through his bullshit, Hiram's a manipulative man but he's also a damn good leader.

Schedules are scrapped. There are repetitive jobs now. Toni gets given the job of a Hunter along with FP, Archie, Alice Cooper, Veronica and Reggie. Jughead gets to be part of the Research Team in the Blue & Gold office.

All Toni can think of while she patrols the streets is how much Cheryl would love this. How good of a hunter Cheryl would be. How Cheryl is probably a zombie now.

"Zombie!" FP yells. They all run at it in different direction. It's Zombie Sweet Pea. Toni doesn't even blink, doesn't even feel a thing as she shoots a bullet between his eyes. Maybe in another life, Toni would be sobbing about having to shoot her best friend, maybe in another life Toni feels something other than iciness in her veins. But all she knows, is in this life Toni only feels ice.

The fire's burned out. And it's only a matter of time before the ice melts.

 

 

Reggie is a fucking idiot. He gets the job of guarding the school for the night. But of course, Reggie gets drunk on the job and ends up drunkenly letting Zombie Chuck and Zombie Moose inside. It's chaos. When Toni stumbles out the music room still groggy from sleep, Alice is pointing a gun at Zombie Betty shaking. Alice Cooper, the leader and Queen Bitch of this dump, is sobbing as she stares into her daughter's Zombie eyes, not having the strength to shoot Betty between the eyes.

Toni runs over before she can even think. She grabs Zombie Betty and pushes her into the boy's locker room, locking the door. Alice lowers the gun, looking at Toni like she's seeing her for the first time. Betty is clawing at the door, making Zombie noises. But if you really listen, between the nonsense grunting you could hear Betty's voice.

"I would've shot her, you know." Alice snaps at Toni. "I know." Toni replies simply, picking up a gun and running off.

There's so many zombies. All the zombies that everyone has seen and even zombies like Hal who no one had seen. Cheryl's not here though, Toni stumbles around searching for her but she's nowhere to be seen. Toni counts that as a win.

 

 

A group of them end up driving off in FP's stolen truck. Alice is the last to clamber in, pulling Polly in with her. "Drive to the White Wyrm!" She yells. "You sure about that, Mrs. C?" Archie asks as FP starts driving. "We need somewhere to rest and eat, not a 5 star hotel, Archie." Hisses Alice back. "Just as long as my babies are safe. I need them safe." Polly agrees, sniffing.

"The White Wyrm it is." Veronica mutters. Josie and Valerie share an uneasy look but say nothing.

When they get there, there's no zombies in sight. Everyone rushes in, following Jughead and FP's lead. "Look what the storm dragged in." Penelope Blossom sneers at her. "Get the riff-raff out, Cheryl." Clifford tells his daughter coldly. "What the hell?" Archie mutters confused.

"You found a cure." Jughead says as Cheryl walks over. Her brown eyes are hollow, unfocused. "Not for Jason." She mutters quietly.

Up close, Toni can see Cheryl's black eye, bruised skin, burn marks, all attempted to be covered by foundation. "And whose fault is that?" Snaps Penelope coldly, her words made to hurt her only child remaining. "You need to go." Cheryl whispers to them. "No. We're not leaving without you. Not until you're safe." Toni replies suddenly, not even thinking about the words that leave her mouth.

"Toni's right. We can't leave without you." Josie agrees. Polly turns to her mother, to see her reaction. "For God's sake... You're coming with us Cheryl. Not even a bitch like you deserves this, I suppose." Sighs Alice.

Veronica nods in agreement. "You're coming with us, kid." FP says.

Cheryl smiles hopefully, almost forgetting about her parents playing chess. "Dispose of the trash, Cheryl." Clifford snaps, darkly. A grimace replaces Cheryl's smile as she lifts the gun. "Everyone but Polly. We need those babies." Adds Penelope, moving her bishop to take Clifford's pawn.

"You're better than this, Cheryl." Mutters Jughead, glancing at the gun in Cheryl's hand.

Her brown eyes look at Josie then at Polly's belly then finally, at Toni. "Sometimes the dead are better off dead, Daddy." Cheryl mutters, turning to face her parents. "What the hell are you talking about?" Her father snaps. A dark smile graces Cheryl's face as she pulls the trigger. "You stupid child! Don't you see what you've done?" Hisses Penelope. "Shut up." Polly says protectively, as Penelope grabs Cheryl's shirt.

"What are you going to do, Cooper? Breastfeed me to death?" Penelope snorts, rolling her eyes. In a flash of anger, Polly grabs a gun and shoots Penelope Blossom in the head. Cheryl gasps, and before Toni can think twice, she's rushing over to hug the redhead.

 

 

Betty Cooper wakes up to Jughead's teary eyes in the boy's locker room. "What happened?" She mutters, holding her head. "It's a long story. Like a really, really long story." Chuckles Jughead.


End file.
